To Live a Normal Life
by Pupetta
Summary: What happens when Mirai Trunks gets a year of being normal for his birthday? A visit to the timeline we all know...and Orange Star High School. Poor Gohan!
1. Vacation! Chance for a normal life Or, a...

**To Live a ****Normal**** Life**

~*~~~~~~~

Bulma, in all her mechanical engineer glory, grinned widely at the noises of protest coming from her son. It was his birthday, and so she had blindfolded him (and assured a promise his eyes were closed under the blindfold) and was in the process of leading him around the house so he'd get lost and the present she got him would be a surprise. Unfortunately, surprising a saiya-jin was a hard thing to do, but she tried her best. She grinned at his displeasure as she dragged him down carious corridors in the re-built Capsule Corps.

"Mom, do you really have to drag me along with my eyes closed like this? At least I could walk to the room whatever it is you're hiding is in and then close my eyes. I'm twenty, mom, not ten!"

Bulma's smile widened as she tossed her long, prematurely graying hair over one shoulder with one hand, and tightened the grip on her son's hand with the other. 

"Nope, Trunks, we're doing this the old-fashioned way, and you are only eighteen. Those two years in the other timeline in the Space and Time chamber don't count." If Trunks had his blue eyes open, they would have rolled. 

"Still counts!" he replied.

"Not so long as I say they don't!" The genius of 48, but looking a bit younger than it, dragged her only son by the hand and pulled him further around the house, trying to disorient him unsuccessfully. Having had the CC headquarters as his only play space when he was younger, Trunks knew every corner and wasn't fazed by the walking around in circles, but chose not to tell his mother since she seemed to be enjoying herself. He felt her pick up her drag/shuffle a little and knew they were getting close to their destination. As soon as he felt his feet move down the stairs he knew they were headed to the labs. Bulma noticed the small smile on his face but didn't seem to mind. She dragged him though the doorway, pulled off the blindfold and-

"Surprise! Happy eighteenth birthday, Trunks!" He opened his eyes and saw the time machine his mother had built a year ago, shiny, repainted and clean, the word 'Hope' still emblazoned on its side.

"Mom?" She grinned, looking much less like the middle-aged woman with so many burdens, and more like the girl he had heard of from the Dragonball hunting days.

"Trunks, because you've been absolutely wonderful in helping me put the world back together this year, I'm giving you a break- a vacation. One year of normal life- or as normal as it can get in the other timeline. I've already told the other me. She's expecting you, although I think you'll be a surprise for your father-" a slight voice crack "-and the chibi-you." Trunks blinked in amazement and opened his mouth to protest, but his mother cut him off. "AND, to make the normal experience complete, you're going to high school with Gohan." All protests died on his lips immediately.

"Chichi tutored him that much?!" Bulma smiled.

"No, I'm sending you to a time period seven years after you left the timeline last- on the other you's birthday, actually. So you'll get to see eight year old you and eighteen year old Gohan. Won't that be interesting? And don't worry about me having control of things here. You have the time machine, remember, so I'll expect you back by high noon tomorrow." She reached into her pocket and handed him a box of capsules. "Here. I took the liberty of packing your things already because you KNOW you want to go, and I'm your mother, and I know what's best for you." An almost goofy smile came to Trunks' lips. Oh yeah, this WOULD be fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Newly eight year-old Trunks grinned broadly as he opened his third present- besides a real-life chemistry set and a new gi- to reveal a set of Hercule Satan action figures. With an almost evil delight he smiled and said, "Thanks mom! Now I really CAN get away with blowing up Mr. Satan!" Vegeta smirked and a thirty-eight year old Bulma- who looked a over a decade younger than she was- gave a snort and rolled her eyes, trying to suppress a smile on her perfectly un-wrinkled face. 

"You can thank your father for that one." The boy's blue eyes lit up with happiness and admiration.

"Really Papa?!" The older man with the upswept hair gave a small "hmp" of acknowledgement and a look as close to a smile as he could get. The lavender-topped eight year old brightened up even more at the sign from his father, and gave a nod of respect and a shout of "Thank you, Papa!!"

Bulma sighed with pleasure at the scene. She had been a late starter, but looking at her family now, she knew it was worth the wait. She glanced at her watch, "Come on, you two, I've got another surprise for both of you." Bulma continued with a flip of her short hair. "As I was saying, Trunks, you're getting an older brother." Both of her men looked confused. "Mirai Trunks is coming to live with us for a year!"

A moment passed until she heard her desired response:

"WHAT?!"

"REALLY?! COOL!" Trunks looked estatic; Vegeta looked abashed. "THAT'S SO NEAT!" Trunks yelled. Bulma gave a self-satisfied smile.

"I thought you'd like it." At Vegeta's 'why on earth?' look, she shrugged and gave a brief explanation. "He needed a vacation." With that, the welcome wagon went downstairs to the lab to greet the newcomer.

~~~~~~~****~~~~~~~~~~

"Pencil Sharpener!" the elderly teacher called out as he read attendance.

"Here!"

"Pink Erasa!"

"Here!"

"Satan Videl!"

"Here!"

"Son Gohan!"

"Present!"  The whole class turned and stared at him. He sweatdropped and smiled nervously. "Uh, here?"

"Three-ring Binda!"

"Here!" 

Gohan sank back into his seat. It was only his second day of school and he had already made himself seem out of place. From his late entrance the first day, to eating a lot at lunch, to accidentally jumping too high to catch the baseball, and not getting hurt when hit by the fast-ball…and now he stood out just by saying "present" instead of "here"…he could tell that being normal in high school would be a difficult task all year. He sighed and sat up again. _I shouldn't slouch! He looked at his classmates, who were all slouching or leaning onto their desks, and thought again. __Well, maybe not. He slumped forward in his chair, idly twirling his pencil, before resorting to drawing Piccolo-sensei out of boredom. The old balding mustached homeroom teacher slowly rapped a ruler on his podium to call attention.  _

"Now class," he rapped the ruler a couple more times, slowly, "It seems we have another new student now." He rapped the ruler again, although it was hardly necessary. All the people in class were looking at him with some degree of interest. "Vegeta, come on in…" Gohan nearly fell out of his chair onto the floor in shock.

"Gohan?!" Erasa exclaimed, hands to her mouth in a gasp, "Are you alright?!"

 "Oh, yeah, fine," He quickly collected himself, blushing slightly before paling again, setting his chair right again. If the whole "present" situation hadn't labeled him as an idiot, that certainly did. "Just klutzing…ha…ha…" He gave a nervous version of the Son smile to see if they believed him. Videl gave him a penetrating stare, "some klutz," while Sharpner passed it off as another "dork" thing.  Gohan laughed nervously, and the teacher glared. 

"If you're all quite done up there, Vegeta?" 

"Oh?" A voice much different- younger and softer- than the one Gohan expected came back. "Yes? Oh! Sorry." A very abashed looking young man stepped in with a blush, but quickly corrected it. He put a small smile on his face, not minding the long lock of lavender hair that fell down on it. The girls almost all brightened up at the new entry, while the guys grumbled about another possible dork- or a pretty-boy threat. He was wearing a puffy gray Capsule Corp jacket, a black tank top underneath with jeans and a belt. His long lavender hair was back in a ponytail with grown out bangs on the sides. His blue eyes smiled jovially as he introduced himself. "Hi, I'm-"

"Trunks," Gohan murmured, jaw slack.

"- Briefs Vegeta, nice to meet you all." Gohan stared completely shell-shocked as the teacher went on.

"Mr. Briefs here got full credit on his entry exams, just like Mr. Son up there." Gohan came out of his shock.

"Huh?" 

Sharpner smirked and crossed his arms, "Looks like you've got yourself competition in the geek department, Gohan." Trunks, who had heard the comment, of course, looked up at Gohan and gave an honest smile, raising an eyebrow in Sharpner's direction. Gohan gave a little wave.

"So, sonny, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" the teacher continued.

"Well, I've been in boarding school for the last few years," here he gave a small Vegeta-esque smirk, "kind of, and I'm interested in martial arts." Some kid in the back row snickered and whispered, 

"Bet pretty boy couldn't lift a twenty-pound weight." General snickering ensued. "Vegeta" casually crossed his arms and gave a decidedly wicked smirk which showed Gohan that two years in the hyperbolic time chamber with Vegeta no Ouji had been way, way, too much. 

"I've also been told that I have exceptionally good hearing," he drawled, with a pointed glance in the boy's direction. His mood lightened just as swiftly as it had fallen, "But I really am glad to meet you all, and look forward to further convo." Another pleasant expression. Gohan felt rather wigged out by all the Vegeta-ouji channeling, but managed to stay calm.

Erasa sighed about how dreamy he was, and he turned in his seat, asking, "Is there a seat near here for him?" She looked around.

"Sure, right behind me…Oooh!" she stood up, "Oh teach! There's a free seat right back here!" The old man nodded, a small smile at the girl who had managed to snag two new students seats in two days.

"Thank you, Erasa. You may have a seat up there, Vegeta." Trunks nodded and gave a dip of the chin to Gohan when he passed, who responded with a "hello" nod in kind. Erasa leaned over, eager to gossip.

"You KNOW that guy?" Gohan nodded. _I wonder what he's doing here. Then the teacher commanded them to take out their notes, and there was no more opportunity for conversation until lunch._

~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

You like? Give me some feedback, folks! ^_^ I'm sure you will, and I'm looking forward to it. I love all you dear readers!! ^_^ Hope you liked!


	2. All in the Family

**To Live a ****Normal**** Life**

~*~~~~~~~

_BRIIIIIIING!_

The students ran eagerly out of the classroom to lunch period, despite the call of the teacher that they weren't dismissed until she said so. Her rant was lost in the ruckus, so she sighed and leaned on her pedestal, gazing at the havoc of upturned chairs in each row from the stampede of students rushing to their free lunch period. She was surprised to find the new students Vegeta and Gohan still sitting in their seats, book bags packed and on the table, hands grasping the straps as they stared at her expectantly.  "What do you need, boys?" They looked at each other, befuddled at her inquiry, before Gohan asked hesitantly, hand behind head, a slight innocent smile on his face,

"Er, ma'am? Are we dismissed yet?" 

"Oh!" The English teacher flushed quite suddenly, looking quite abashed -and pleased- that students had actually listened to her for once, or heard her over the previous ruckus. She regained composure quickly, but her back straightened and her posture gained a look of confidence and authority as the curly blonde teacher gave the students a smile and a sharp nod. "Yes, boys, you are dismissed." The young men seemed to fly down the first half of the steps before halting abruptly, and walking leisurely out of the classroom after waving goodbye to their teacher.

As soon as they were outside the classroom, and Gohan looked both ways to ensure the absence of any stray students, the black haired boy grabbed "Vegeta"'s arm and sprinted faster than the eye could see down the corridor and out the door to a spot he'd noticed the day before as deserted. Stopping as abruptly as he started, Gohan turned and flashed a huge surprised grin at the other demi-saiyajin. "Trunks! Mirai Trunks! What on Earth are you doing here? It's been about seven years," the black haired demi-saiyajin paused and squinted thoughtfully, "Although you really don't look that much older…" The corners of the blue eyed demi-saiyajin's mouth turned up a little, and he squinted a bit, giving Gohan an apprising look, noting how the boy who'd saved the world had changed in seven years.

"I really can't say the same for you, Gohan. You're not chibi any more! It's nice to see you- and everyone else- all grown and happy, although I'm only a year older myself." He crossed his arms in a funny cross between his father's scowling stance and his mother's self-satisfied smile that he had been seeing a lot more of since the androids in the future were defeated, and Gohan noted how familial resemblance always did run strong in Bulma's family. 

"How?" Another confident smile graced Mirai's lips,

"I DO have a time machine, you know. Mom gave me vacation leave to come over and visit while I'm still 'young, mobile, and recognizable.' She's also concerned that some of the quantum mechanics in the machine will wear out before we get good usage from them. So, here I am, visiting you all while I've got the chance. It's pretty awesome seeing myself as a little kid again- but happy this time," a real Trunks smile, like Chibi Trunks', but a little older, shone through his face, "Having a little bro is pretty cool, so long as I'm not the victim of his pranks."

"I would ask what it's like having two Trunks in the house, but…why in Kami's name are you going by 'Vegeta?'" Mirai Trunks laughed shortly.

"Believe it or not, it's to keep questions like 'Why are there two Trunks in the house?' down. If the public found out about me- which I'm sure sooner or later they will, since I signed up as Breifs Vegeta here at school,- they'd get kinda confused as to why my parents had two purple haired sons and named BOTH Trunks. Seems a little much to me," Gohan nodded in agreement, "and rather than just go around calling me 'Future' all the time, Dad insisted that since I'm the oldest son, I carry on the Vegetasei tradition," here the purple haired demi gave a laughing grin, but Gohan could tell he was pleased with the attention he had gotten from the father he'd previously never known. "Crown Prince gets the name, you know." 

Gohan rolled his eyes and gave an honest smile- it was nice having someone his age (sort of) with the same type of messed up family- and superpowers- he had. He opened his mouth to comment jokingly on how "Vegeta" was picking up a little on his father's royal arrogance, but was interrupted by the chorus of two stomachs craving nourishment. "We could catch up all day… but how about we get some food, first?"

"Sounds good to me. Where do we sit?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Entering the designated lunch eating area for students, Gohan gave a nervous gulp at the scene before him. The area was crowded with students -he couldn't move much further in without bumping into at least three of them at once- and the only two chairs open were at the table on the very edge of the area. There wasn't even room on the ground or at one of the corners, unless the student wanted to be run over by a mass of socializing teenagers. The position of the table wasn't what was concerning Gohan, however. To the contrary, it was who was occupying the table that worried him most; Videl, scowling into her sandwich; Sharpner, making "manly" comments on muscles, beating people up, and how wouldn't Videl like to go on a date with him?; and Erasa, giggling endlessly over the former's antics and chirping over fashion matters to them both.

"Hey, Gohan," 'Vegeta' started, "there's a spot!" Gohan's eyes widened a little in horror.

"Er- Tru-, I mean, 'Vegeta,' do we _have to? You REALLY don't want to sit by those people." 'Vegeta' gave him a puzzled look,_

"What, are they going to be throwing ki blasts at us? They can't be so bad," and immediately walked –pushed through the crowd, really- towards the table, giving Gohan no choice but to shuffle after them.

"_Vegeta," he whined a little as the lavender haired demi-saiyajin shuffled ahead._

"What?" 'Vegeta' rolled his eyes, "You can't _really be afraid of those people. I think it's exciting! I've never been around people my own age before." Gohan shuffled a little closer. _

"They're _strange," -here Gohan was given an "And we aren't?" look by his comrade- "They ask too many questions! It's dangerous!"_

"Gohan, I'm not going to be giving anything away about myself."

"You'd be surprised," Gohan gave a little shudder, "AND, the black haired girl is Satan Videl." This actually paused the future demi-saiyajin in his tracks a moment, before plunging on ahead.

"All the more reason to go. You can't be afraid of that weakling's daughter!" 'Vegeta' barely caught the annoyed "that's what I thought yesterday" mumbled out of Gohan's lips before they arrived at the table. "Mind if we sit here?"

The three people at the table looked up at the two newcomers. Videl gave a hard stare to each, shrugged, and went back to eating her sandwich. Erasa squealed and gave a huge smile and a wink, "Sure! Nobody'd mind having you two cuties around," giggling a little after. The other blonde at the table only gave a disgusted look at Erasa's choice of "cuteness" and snorted.

"Dorks and Geeks aren't allowed to sit at this table." Leaning back in his seat he crossed his arms and gave a very smug look to each boy. Gohan gave a little nervous laugh as if it were a joke and sat down anyway, and 'Vegeta' sat next to him, and across from Videl, responding only with a smile and the comment,

"Then I guess you'll have to find another place to sit, won't you?" Videl gave 'Vegeta' a half approving glance at the remark as Sharpner bristled, and both he and Gohan started pulling out a minute section of their enormous lunches. Sharpner, surprisingly enough, got over the little remark by 'new boy' and made the first overture to conversation. 

"So how do you and Geek-boy here know each other?" 'Vegeta' raised an eyebrow at the terminology, but paused enough in his eating (slower than Gohan's) to answer.

"Gohan and I have been friends since we were about 11." He then went back to semi-inhaling his sandwich and bento box. Erasa leaned forward smiling.

"Ooh! Is that er, before or after the Cell Games?"

"Before."

Awkward silence as both boys resumed the intense consumption of their lunches. Erasa decided that to win these boys hearts, there was only one conversation that would keep them interested- Martial arts. With Videl's help, of course.

"Well…" the blonde started. Videl gave a groan. "You know our Videl here is the daughter of the one and only…Mr. Satan!" 'Vegeta' gave a snort and tried to feign interest. 

"So I've heard." The comment came out slightly snide instead. He resumed inhaling his rice bowl. Erasa caught enough false enthusiasm to register the response as polite and interested. 

"Yup! Isn't that fascinating?!" 

Videl had been studying 'Vegeta' for some time with the same glare she gave Gohan, but to a lesser degree (he didn't seem to hide so much, just be self-contained.) Still, she felt it was her duty to check out the backgrounds of all suspicious new personages attending the school…

"Hey, you said your name was Briefs Vegeta?" 'Vegeta' looked up, surprised at the comment, while Gohan gave him an 'I told you so' look. The interrogation was about to begin.

"Yeah?" The lavender haired teen swallowed his mouthful and looked at the previously silent girl fighter. She narrowed her eyes a little.

"Any relation to Briefs Bulma?" He blinked. _So this is what Gohan meant by questions. Not so__ bad._

"Yeah, she's my mom." He continued eating, and Gohan shook his head sadly, knowing the torture to come.

"So. You're the heir to Capsule Corps?"

"I guess so… my little brother Trunks might take the job, though." A slight smile. _In THIS timeline, for sure. More eating._

"Say, Gohan," Videl started, a certain tone creeping into her voice. Gohan recognized that tone- Videl's "you never told me this" tone that promised a game of 20 Questions From Hell. The black haired demi-saiyajin gulped the mouthful of rice he had in his mouth at the time and started trying to remember all of the various excuses for odd behavior he had. 

"Uh, yeah?"

Her eyes narrowed further. "Does that mean you know Bulma Briefs?"

"Uh… er… yeah?"

"How come you never told us?!"

Nervous laughter. "Well, I really didn't think it mattered…" 

'Vegeta' picked up the extra explaining with a nonchalant shrug. "He's known her all his life. Why would it really be that special to him? We really don't make anything of our fame."

"True." Videl seemed content to let that one slide, although the nervousness in Gohan's answers always alerted her there was something more to the story she was missing. Why couldn't that boy be honest with her? And 'Vegeta'… he was too confident. Either he needed to be taken down a notch before he started messing with the smaller kids…or….he was hiding something. And Videl _never let any secrets get past her._

She needn't have worried about Vegeta's composure.

"So," Sharpener started asking the lavender haired teen with a flip of his blonde locks over his shoulders, "Is your mom single?"

'Vegeta' nearly choked on his lunch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ayah! Cut it kinda short for now, but more to come! ^_~


	3. Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!

**To live a normal life**

~~~~~~

Mirai Trunks choked on his sandwich briefly. He was starting to understand Gohan's wariness with this particular set of high-schoolers. Sharpner shrugged.

"Sorry, I know it's your mom and all. But, I mean, _dude, we barely hear about your family in the media, even though you own the largest company and are the richest folks in the world- more than Mr. Satan, even!" he finished off with a friendly clap on the back- "We _gotta_ wonder."_

"You can't just mind your own business?"

"Seriously!!!" A girl from the nearby table looked over her shoulder and burst in with an excited giggle. "Are you talking about the Briefs??? There is sooo much stuff in the rumor mill about them!!"

"But yeah…I mean, is your mom _married or anything? 'Cause _we_ never heard about it." Sharpener shot a smug look at Mirai Trunks/ Vegeta Jr. A slow heat began crawling up the demi-saiyajin's face—even HE didn't know if his mother was married, in the Earth sense. Maybe they were, in this time, but so far as he knew, he had been a passion thing on his father's part in his own timeline. _Did_ they ever get married? He decided the safest route was to keep on eating- slowly. He was in this timeline for the chance to act normal, after all. "There are _tons_ of rumors about your mom's status." Looking pleased with himself, Sharpener glanced at the other table members for confirmation._

Videl narrowed her eyes at the blonde boy, and "hmpf"-ed a dismissal. "Your point, Sharpener? Rumors are rumors. There are enough about me and my family, much less the Briefs. Don't you have a life of your own?"

"Of course!—But anyway," the blonde refocused on Mirai, "Rumor number one is that Trunks and you, Vegeta, are a result of a fling with that baseball player, Yamucha." Mirai gagged on his juice box.

"Yamucha??? Are you crazy? Mom broke up with him _years_ ago!"

"Waitasec—Uncle Yamucha plays baseball?"

_"Uncle??"_

"—And the second theory is that she married one of the aliens that blew up East City." Gohan proceeded to choke on a riceball, and 'Vegeta' froze like a deer in headlights. Wasn't this supposed to be all Gohan-torture? Well, only one way to combine and conquer—

"I'm half-alien just as much as Gohan is." The colour drained from Gohan's face.

"You're BOTH half alien?" Erasa's eyes bugged.

Gohan gritted his teeth. "I think he meant to say we're both human."

"Oh. Sorry, Vegeta."

"So, what IS your Mom's status?"

"She's taken."

"Does that mean she's married to the alien guy?"

"Look," Gohan interrupted, "do you seriously think any sane Earth-woman would marry a mass-murdering, planet-destroying alien?"

"Your MOM's an alien TOO, Vegeta?"

"I didn't know the alien from East City destroyed planets! Where'd you hear that, Gohan?" Erasa glomped on to the slightest bit of gossip available, eager to spread it—

'Vegeta' was trying very hard not to lose his temper. "NO, my mother is NOT an alien, NO, she is not available, just NO. That's your answer." The saiyajin in him was eager to flatten the entire school at that point. Gohan tried, but couldn't resist, smirking at the newcomer's predicament, and was rewarded with a Saiyajin-no-Ouji-worthy glare.

Videl watched in silence, absorbing every comment, and every flinch, and every nervous twitch the newcomers made.

"—hey, Gohan, what happened to all that respect I used to get?" Trunks shot a lighthearted glare at the other demi-saiyajin.

"Sorry- _Vegeta_."

Videl, suspicious per usual, spoke, deadpanned. "He says your name like it's a joke."

"To Gohan," –pointed glance- "anything that doesn't happen to him is a joke. Gohan- I used to respect you too, but if I have to fight you to regain it, I will." The lavender-haired youth gave another small smile, a mixture of his parents' smirks and grins. "I'll whoop you from here to Namek, and you know it."

"Namek-?" Videl's voice dripped with suspicion.

"A planet in outer space," Gohan inserted, with an "I'm-so-innocent" Patented Son Grin, "Didn't you study astronomy?" Nervous laughter followed.

'Vegeta' relished Gohan's discomfort-"Gohan, I'm pulling rank." Smirk. 

Gohan smirked back, "Do you think you can defend it—Unlike your father?"

"Ow, low blow! Don't insult the heritage, Gohan."

Sharpener, Erasa, and Videl were following, but the words had no meaning. Videl still took mental notes- what was this with heritage, and HOW did they know each other again? Rank? 

Trunks paused. "We're sounding like our fathers."

Gohan's mouth twisted in a somewhat bitter smirk. "Low blow, Ve-ge-ta."

Trunks paused again. "I'm sorry, Gohan."

"What_ about_ your fathers?" Videl put in.

"What is this, twenty questions?!"

"YES!!!" Videl, Sharpener, and Erasa shouted.

"They were arch-rivals. But they stopped wanting to kill each other, after a while."

"OOOooooooh," Erasa absorbed the info like a sponge, "So dramatic!!"

Gohan shot Trunks an "are-you-kidding-me?" look, "Your father actually _stopped_?"

"Kinda. Your dad brought out the good in my Dad, in the end."

Gohan raised an eyebrow, "Your Dad only stopped being selfish briefly when you were you-know-what-ed by You-Know-Who." ("oooh, more secrets!" Erasa shouted.) "Then he showed he cared. Briefly. You heard about it, right?"

"Yeah, from Yamucha, ironically."

"Excuse me," Videl interrupted, "But would you mind telling us what you're talking about?"

"Don't worry, we're done with memory lane."

Erasa took the chance to bring up gossip _she_ knew about. "So, have you heard about the Gold Fighter?"

It was now Gohan's turn to choke on his juicebox, much to the delight of the gossipers and Mirai. 'Vegeta' allowed himself a sigh of relief and leaned back to enjoy the Gohan-torture. 

~~~

In an outburst of delighted screams, the school day let out with the bell. Now-freed, the students trotted out of their classrooms, hovered around each other's lockers, and ran off to wreak havoc in the city.

Exhaustion, and a certain degree of exhilaration, were all the emotions swirling through Mirai Trunks' head as he removed from his locker the necessary homework books and watched the other students scurry by. Looking up just as Gohan came into sight range (long after he came into ki range) at the end of the hall, he raised two fingers in greeting. 

"Heya, Gohan!"

Gohan shouted back "Vegeta!" with a grin, and trotted through the crowd to his locker, four over from Mirai's. "So, how did you enjoy your first day at OHS?" He pulled out a sandwich from his locker inbetween shoving books in his pack, and consumed it quickly. 

'Vegeta' shrugged, and gave a wry smile, "Definitely different than I thought it would be. I never thought I'd get that many questions..." He trailed off as suddenly Videl came into his view about a foot from his face. "…uhhhhh….hey Videl…!" Disconcerted, he looked at Gohan for guidance. He shrugged helplessly in return. 

"So, Vegeta," hair in ponytails, arms folded and "TUFF COOKIE" screened on her shirt, Videl was ready for the grand inquisition. "Do you want to come with Sharp, Erasa and me to ice cream after school?" 

Beyond words, Vegeta, and the rest of the student body stopped dead in their tracks. A slow, creeping blush ran up from his neck to the rest of his face, giving Vegeta the look of a perfect tomato, while mouths gaped open, Gohan had a look of utter bewilderment on his face, and Videl quirked an eyebrow. Erasa bounced over with a mischievous look on her face- "You too, Gohan!!!" and burst into giggles, but the damage was done. 

"Uhm, sure?"

The rumor mill burst into action—Videl and Vegeta were an item. 

~~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE!!!! 

Alrighty you all!! Thanks so much for putting up with my ENORMOUS, INEXCUSABLE gap between updates!!!!!!! FYI, this IS going to be a nice happy G/V story! This is just for interest…I'd tell you how it works, but I don't want to spoil it for you!! Expect another update before the 8th of January—I'm on a roll!! Thank you for your support! ^_~

~Sincerely, 

Pupetta


End file.
